Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

How do people and organizations inspire trust?

They make choices based on justifiable standards. They take others into account in their decisions. And then they do what they say they will do.

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics engages individuals and organizations to make choices that respect and care for others. In our focus areas—bioethics, business ethics, campus ethics, character education, government ethics, Internet ethics, journalism ethics, leadership ethics, and social sector ethics—we work with scholars and professionals to apply ethical ideas to the very real problems people encounter. We examine the obstacles to ethical action in many areas of our lives and develop tools to help people perform at their best.

For the 2017-18 academic year, the Ethics Center will explore the theme of freedom of speech and civil discourse through public events, the work of a team of undergraduate fellows, and the provision of educational materials about key, contested ethical issues.

Upcoming Events

Ambassador (ret.) MaryAnnPeters, CEO of The Carter Center, will speak about the importance of women in government and the value of inclusion in peace negotiations. SCU Women’s and Gender Studies Professor Sharmila Lodhia will interview the Ambassador following her remarks.

Radhika Rao, professor of Law, UC Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco, is the speaker. Recent cases involving biosamples taken from indigenous tribes and newborn babies reveal the emptiness of informed consent. This venerable doctrine often functions as a charade, a collective fiction which thinly masks the uncomfortable fact that the subjects of human research are not actually afforded full information regarding the types of research that may be contemplated, nor do they provide meaningful consent. But if informed consent fails to provide adequate protection to the donors of biological materials, why not turn to principles of property law?

Vikram Bhargava, assistant professor of management at SCU’s Leavey School of Business, will discuss the new ethical concerns raised by the common practice of companies purposefully designing their websites to be addictive.